Battle of Britain - 75 years

15th September 2015

In 1940, from 10 July until 31 October, the Royal Air Force Fighter Command thwarted the German Luftwaffe's attempts to gain air supremacy over southern England, averting possible invasion and downing 1,733 German aircraft.

But the efforts were not without significant sacrifice: 915 British craft were lost and an estimated 544 of the 2,927 aircrew of the RAF were killed.

Their numerical disadvantage prompted Prime Minister Winston Churchill to describe them as the 'few' in his speech to Parliament on 20 August 1940 "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." Sir Winston Churchill.